This week, the OBHS Debating Club held its end of season lunch and reflected on a successful year of local and regional debating.

In what was a disjointed local competition, our debaters still managed to developed their craft and benefit from a pool of strong competition. The critical thinking skills that were constantly on display were truly impressive. To be able to articulate arguments on topics as varied as performance pay for teachers, combating misinformation in an age of conspiracies, and the ethics of bringing dinosaurs to life, is something this writer's old mind struggles to comprehend.

That our debating teams won interschools and our top team, OBHS 1, won the Otago Southland Regional Competition has previously been reported. The cherry on top of a successful year is the news that the success of particular individuals has also been recognised. In tallying up the speaker scores across the three terms of the senior Dunedin Schools' Competition, three of our debaters were placed in the top ten. Luke Geddes 5th, Boudewijn Keenan 4th, and adding to his 'Best Style' award from the Regional Competition, Michael Crosson took out 1st place. These are outstanding results and should help to inspire both the existing members of the club who will continue to represent the school next year and those who might be interested to sign up. Thank you to Dr Zammit for her support of the club and to Luke Geddes for supporting the development of our members. If anyone is interesting in finding out more about debating and the local competitions, please get in touch with Mr Dadley.